Combined rope-clutch and handle.



No. 628,224. Y Patented luly 4,` |899.

S. C. HOUGHTDN.

COMBINED ROPE CLUTH AND HANDLE,

(Application med reuma, 1899.)

{No Model.)

Qvl

UNITED STATES PATENT i OFFICE.-

STEPHEN C. I-IOUGHTON, OF SA`l\T FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA', ASSIGNOR TO THE HOUGIITON REGISTER COMPANY.

HANDLE.

sPncIrIcATIoN forming part of Letters Intent No. 628,224, dated July 4, 1899.

Application filed February 23,1899. Serial No. 706,580. I(No model.)

To all whom 'it may concern: l

Be it known that I, STEPHEN C. I-IoUeH'roN, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented Acertain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Rope-Clutch and Handle, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is a handle for binding andY to use my invention is to operate a fare-register in a railway passenger-car. I have accordingly shown in the drawings the interior of such a car, with a register in position at one end and ropes extending from the register to the otherv end along one side and as near the top of the car as it may be Couven: ient to place them. Late improvements in registers provide for the indication and reg-A isti-ation of cash fares and transfer-checks by separate mechanisms separately actuated, and it is considered preferable to supply both actuating means upon each side of the car. In order to avoid mistakes in registering, it is advisable to carefully distinguish these different operating means from each other, and the means in common use for operating either the cash or the transfer part of the register is a rigid rod connected to the register and provided with handles by which it can be turned in the bearings which support it and a common iiexible cord to operate the other mechanism. These rods and their fittings, however, are expensive both in construction and application, and I have found it practicable to use a much simpler device and at the same time preserve the requisite distinction between the two operating means. The device shown in the drawings is therefore designed to do away with the rods referred to and to be applied to an ordinary rope or cord, first, as a guide for the rope; secondly, as a binding clutch and handle for pulling it, and,

thirdly, as the means lfor distinguishing this rope from the one which operates the other mechanism. It, however, fulfils its kpurpose as a clutch and handle when applied to any vsingle rope, and hence its use is not necessa-v rily limited to the particular location and special purpose herein described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis an elevation of one side of the vinterior of a railway passenger-car, showing a register in position at one end and two ropes on one side, to one of which several of my devices are applied. Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of one of my clutch-handles applied to arope and in normal inoperative relation to therope. Fig. 3 is a similar view with the clutch-handle in operative position in the act of pulling the rope. F1' g. 4 is an end elevation of the clutchhandle. p

In the car shown in the drawings, A represents a fare-register,and B is one of the ropes, cords, or straps for operating one of its registering mechanisms. This rope runs loosely on guide-pulleys b vto any suitable terminal connection at the end of the car.

' C is the rope, cord, or strap to which my clutch-handles are applied and also extends from the register along the car, but preferably in a higher position than the `rope B, and I prefer to keep it reasonably taut. Pivoted to the car structure and at suitable distances apart are the combined rope-guides, clutches, and pull-handles D. Each of these devices consists of a head d, pivoted at d' to the car structure and preferably to a suitable bracket or hanger c in such a way that it can be moved in the direction of the course of the rope. The head is provided with a passage or rope-guide f, in which the rope tits loosely when the device is in its normal inoperative position, Fig. 2. The head is recessed, as shown at g, and within such recess is pivoted the lever or handle 71, the one arm of which extends downwardly within convenient reach; 1 The other arm forms a clutch or die which when the handle is turned on its pivot, Eig. 3, bears upon and binds the rope in its guide. The

contact-surface of the die may be shaped to iit the rope, cord, or strap, and in the present case is rounded to conform to the shape of the rope, Fig. e. Vhen the rope is clutched IOO and bound in this manner, it is flexed, as

shown in Fig. 3, and hence the handle and pivoted head can move as one device upon the pivot d' and operate the rope and whatever mechanism is connected to the latter.- At all other times the rope is free and the device serves only as a guide and support. A single device of this character is effective as a clutch and pull-handle for many purposes; but for the use for which I especially intend it I prefer to provide a number in order to have some one of them accessible at any point in a car.

I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein described and shown, as I desire to avail myself of such modifications and equivalents as fall properly within the spirit of my invention. For illustration, it will not be necessary in all cases to pivot the head d to a supporting structure. If such head hangs loosely on a rope which is connected and held at both ends, the handle can be pulled and the rope eXed and bound in the guide-passage and then operated by continuing the pull.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In combination with a car structure, a series of pendent pull-handles, disposed at dierent points along the car structu re, said pull-handles each havingv a rope-clutch couuected therewith to engage the rope of the fare-register or other device when the handle l is pulled and which releases the rope when the handle returns to normal position, substantially as described.

3. In combination, the supporting structure having a pivot, the pull-handle supported at its upper end on said pivot and depending therefrom and a rope-clutch carried by the pendent pull-handle, said pull-handle with its` clutch returning by gravity to normal position and serving to guide the rope when unclutched, substantially as described.

4. In combination with a car structure, a series of guides for a rope attached to the car structure and each having an operating leverhandle provided with means for binding the rope in the guide, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have afxed my sigi nature, in presence of two Witnesses, this 18th day of February, 1899.

STEPHEN C. HOUGI-ITON.

Witnesses:

L. W. SEELY, H. J. LANG. 

